Ken Rosenthal announced today that Oakland A’s centerfielder Ramon Laureano and Houston Astros hitting coach Alex Cintron have been suspended for six games and 20 games, respectively, for their parts in the benches clearing brawl during the game between the A’s and Astros on the 9th. The brawl, which started after Cintron goaded Laureano into attacking him and reportedly said degrading things about Laureano’s mother, ended up violating MLB’s policy against fights this year, which states that “Players must not make physical contact with others for any reason unless normal and permissible part of game action. Violations of these rules will result in severe discipline”, according to Joel Sherman. Laureano’s six game suspension is two games less than what Joe Kelly received for throwing at Astros player Carlos Correa. Cintron’s goading must have played a part as to why. With Laureano out for five games, Mark Canha will likely fill in for him in centerfield as he did in 2019 when Laureano was out with an injury. For the season, Laureano is slashing .263/.405/.491 with a .387 wOBA and 156 wRC+.
